This invention relates to dough products. In one of its more particular aspects, this invention relates to a process for making dough products capable of crisping by baking or heating with microwaves.
The advent of convenience frozen foods and particularly foods designed for quick baking or warming in a microwave oven has produced a variety of comestibles differing in their texture, consistency and palatability. Although many such foods have become available, there is a need for improving the appearance and taste of such products.
Various types of coatings have been used to simulate the appearance and taste of fried foods. U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,512 describes a blended food coating composition including a farinaceous material, powdered fat, a hydrophilic binder, flavoring and edible water soluble dyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,827 describes the use of two dry mixes, the first including raw egg, milk or water, wheat flour, shortening, corn starch and pregelatinized waxy maize starch, which forms a batter, and a second mix including cereal fines, pregelatinized waxy maize starch, shortening and wheat flour.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,603 describes coating frozen comestibles with an edible oil which is fluid at room temperature but solid at the temperature of the frozen comestible and a moisture absorbing substance dispersed in the oil. The oil coated comestible is then further coated with a crisp, dry particulate.
Dough products suitable for finish cooking by baking or exposure to microwaves are also known.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,659 describes a fried dough shell product in which controlled blister development during cooking results in a moist, tender, bready interior and a crusty surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,441 describes a baked dough product made by expanding dough into pockets in cooking irons to provide a cooked dough body having a crisp, relatively firm exterior and a soft, moist, bready interior.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,083 describes rapid-cooking noodles prepared by adding an edible emulsifier or fat which is solid at room temperature in particulate form to a wheat flour mix to form a dough and steam-heating to melt the emulsifier oil or fat, producing holes in the dough and increasing the porosity thereof.
Although efforts have been made to provide dough products which can be finish cooked to a light, flaky, crispy texture, these efforts have not been wholly successful. In large measure, instead of the desired light, flaky, crispy texture, the cooked products have been found to be leathery, in the case of baked products, or soggy in the case of microwave heated products. The sogginess of microwave heated products is due to the characteristics of microwaves, which heat from the inside of the food to the outside. During the process of heating, moisture is driven to the surface resulting in a soggy product. Recently, microwave susceptors have been used to reduce the moisture at the surface of microwave heated foods. These susceptors constitute lossy microwave energy absorbers which become hot when exposed to microwave radiation. When positioned adjacent the surface of a food being heated in a microwave oven, the susceptors promote browning of the food. Such susceptors are sometimes used in the form of a card referred to as a microwave card or browning card. Typical microwave susceptors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,190,757 and 4,283,427, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The use of microwave susceptors improves the browning of microwave heated food and reduces the amount of moisture at the surface thereof, but frequently results in the production of a hard, crusty surface in the case of dough products.
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide dough products suitable for freezing and finish cooking to a light, flaky, crispy texture.
Another object of this invention is to provide a process for the production of such dough products which is simple and inexpensive to use.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the course of the following detailed description.